St. Paul Lutheran Church gets, blesses 1,000 pairs of socks

ESTHER SHORT — In 2020, Leslie Relth, office administrator at St. Paul Lutheran Church, received an email from apparel manufacturer Bombas inquiring if the church could use donated socks. Bombas gives away one pair of socks for every pair purchased.

After several emails and filling out a lengthy questionnaire, St. Paul Lutheran Church received 1,000 pairs.

“It was a wonderful thing to receive all those socks,” Relth said. “We were giddy with excitement.”

This year, Bombas sent 3,000 pairs. The church’s socks arrived in 12 giant boxes.

On Nov. 27, the congregation gathered to give a reading and blessing of the socks. Representatives from various organizations that serve the disadvantaged and unhoused in the local community were on hand.

The socks will be distributed to various camps and organizations that serve the community. Among these are Share, FISH, Friends of the Carpenter, Clark County Food Bank, Seafarers Center, Vancouver Police Department, the Stay Safe shelters, OutsidersInn, Truck Dinners, Winter Hospitality Overflow programs at both St. Paul and St. Andrew Lutheran churches, Immanuel Lutheran Warming Shelter, and Harney and Hough elementary schools.